Snowden stranded Sheremetyevo International Airport's transit area

Embattled former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden is yet to step outside the Moscow airport where he's been kept up for weeks; despite conflicting reports about his asylum. His Russian lawyer, Anatoly Kucherena, confirmed that his client was still stranded at the air port where he is not allowed to leave.

Russian media had reported Wednesday that the U.S. intelligence leaker had been issued a document that would allow him to wait elsewhere in Russia while his request for provisional asylum was considered. However, Kucherena, after meeting with Snowden in Sheremetyevo International Airport's transit area on Wednesday, said that his client hadn't received the certificate and that he would remain in the transit area for now. “The certificate still could come at any time," Kucherena told reporters.

Attempts to contact the Russian officials for comment were futile.

Snowden applied for provisional asylum in Russia on July 16 and if granted, he would be privileged to live in Russia, and even travel abroad, for at least a year, Kucherena said last week. A ruling on the application is expected to take months. But Kucherena said that the Russian authority could issue him a moratoria certificate that would allow him to leave the airport and wait somewhere else in the country while the application is considered.

State-run media RIA Novosti reported that Mr.  Kucherena is in daily contact with Russian authorities about securing Snowden permission to leave the airport.

This news is the latest development in Snowden's search for a place to settle after the United States charged him with spying and vowed to indict him.

Snowden, who admitted last month to revealing sweeping U.S. electronic surveillance programs to the news media, has been in Moscow since he left Hong Kong on June 23. He however, failed to leave the airport after United States revoked his passport.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said on Wednesday that the U.S. government was seeking "clarity" about Snowden's status. And a spokesperson for John Kerry said Washington would be disappointed with Russian authority if Snowden were allowed to leave the airport.

The Obama authority wants Snowden to return to US and answer charges labeled against him. According to Jen Psaki the spokesperson for  Kerry, Mr. Kerry spoke with his Russian counterpart, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Jen Psaki added "He reiterated our belief, which we stated publicly and privately, that Mr. Snowden needs to be returned to the U.S., where he will face a fair trial". Its unclear if Snowden would want to move elsewhere despite his indication earlier he eventually ask for refuge in Latin America.

The presidents of Venezuela and Bolivia said their countries would host Snowden, and Nicaragua's president said he would him asylum "if circumstances permit." But he would need the legal ability to travel there.

The U.S. government has asked Russia to deport Snowden. It said it will watch carefully the route he takes if he tries to reach one of the Latin American countries willing to take him in. the US is also considering crabbing him if any plane carrying him were to refuel in a country that respects U.S. arrest warrants. Meanwhile, the United States has sent arrest warrants to a number of countries where Snowden could either transit or seek asylum, a U.S. official said last week.